Differentiating Leadership from Management: An Empirical Investigation of Leaders and Managers
Publication: Leadership and Management in Engineering
Volume 11, Issue 4
Abstract
There has been a long-standing debate in the literature as to why and how leadership is similar to, or different from, management. Although several scholars have contributed to the debate, there seems to be an absence of pragmatic evidence. Hardly any study that attempts to differentiate leadership from management provides empirical findings. The purpose of the current paper is to begin to cover this research gap. Interviews were conducted with 49 leaders and senior executives in the construction industry of Singapore. The interviewees were asked how they perceived the differences and similarities between leadership and management. Thematic network analysis was used to analyze the interview data. Findings show that there are clear differences between leadership and management on the basis of how leaders and managers define and conceptualize these terms. Leadership and management are different phenomena and processes in which leaders and managers perform varied functions and play different roles in organizations. The study shows that leaders and managers, at least in the construction industry, apply a mix of both leadership and management to perform their daily jobs and fulfill their organizational responsibilities. The findings also echo the many striking overlaps between the roles of leadership and management.
Formats available
You can view the full content in the following formats:
References
Attride-Stirling, J. (2001). “Thematic networks: An analytic tool for qualitative research.” Qual. Res., 1(3), 385–405.
Bass, B. (1990). Bass & Stogdill’s handbook of leadership, 3rd Ed., Free Press, New York.
Bateman, T. S., and Snell, S. A. (1999). Management: Building competitive advantage, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill, London.
Bennis, W. (1989). On becoming a leader, Perseus Books, Reading, MA.
Bennis, W. G., and Nanus, B. (1985). Leaders: The strategies for taking charge, Harper and Row, New York.
Capowski, G. (1994). “Anatomy of a leader: Where are the leaders of tomorrow?” Manage. Rev., 83, 10–14.
Conger, J. A., and Kanungo, R. N. (1992). “Perceived behavioral attributes of charismatic leadership.” Can. J. Behav. Sci., 24(1), 86–102.
Covey, S., Merrill, A. R., and Merrill, R. R. (1994). First things first: To live, to love, to learn, to leave a legacy, Simon and Schuster, New York.
Czarniawska-Joerges, B., and Wolff, R. (1991). “Leaders, managers, entrepreneurs on and off the organization.” Organ. Stud., 12(4), 529–547.
Daft, R. L. (2003). Management, 6th Ed., Dryden, London.
DuBrin, A. J. (1995). Leadership: Research findings, practice, and skills, Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
George, B., and Sims, P. (2007). True north: Discover your authentic leadership, Wiley, San Francisco.
Hackman, M., and Johnson, C. (1996). Leadership: A communication perspective, 2nd Ed., Waveland Press, Prospect Heights, IL.
Hay, A., and Hodgkinson, M. (2006). “Rethinking leadership: A way forward for teaching leadership?” Leader Organ. Dev. J., 27(2), 144–158.
Kan, M. M., and Parry, K. W. (2004). “Identifying paradox: A grounded theory of leadership in overcoming resistance to change.” Leader. Q., 15(4), 467–491.
Kotter, J. P. (1982). “What effective general managers really do.” Harv. Bus. Rev., 60(6), 156–168.
Kotter, J. (1990). “What leaders really do.” Harv. Bus. Rev., 5(3), 3–11.
Kotter, J. (2006). “Leadership versus management: What’s the difference?” J. Qual. Participation, 29(2), 13–17.
Kumle, J., and Kelly, N. J. (2000). “Leadership vs. management.” Supervision, 61(4), 8–10.
Levitt, T. (1976). “Management and the post-industrial society.” Publ. Interest, (44), 69–103.
Love, P. E. D., Holt, G. D., and Li, H. (2002). “Triangulation in construction management research.” Eng., Constr., Archit. Manage., 9(4), 294–303.
Maccoby, M. (2000). “Understanding the difference between management and leadership.” Res. Technol. Manage., 43(1), 57–59.
Mangham, I., and Pye, A. (1991). The doing of managing, Blackwell, Oxford, U.K.
Osborn, R., Hunt, J. G., and Jauch, R. (2002). “Toward a contextual theory of leadership.” Leader. Q., 13(6), 797–837.
Parry, K. W. (1998). “Grounded theory and social process: A new direction for leadership research.” Leader. Q., 9(1), 85–105.
Perloff, R. (2004). “Managing and leading: The universal importance of, and differentiation between, two essential functions.” Presented at Oxford Univ., July 14–15. 〈http://www.katzquiz.com/opinion.cfm?o_num=3〉 (Jun. 26, 2007).
Priestland, A., and Hanig, R. (2005). “Developing first-level leaders.” Harv. Bus. Rev., 83(6), 113–120.
Sarros, J. C. (1992). “What leaders say they do: An Australian example.” Leader Organ. Dev. J., 13(5), 21–27.
Stogdill, R. M. (1997). “Leadership, membership, and organization.” Leadership: Classical, contemporary, and critical approaches, K. Grint, ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K., 112–125.
Thamhain, H. J. (2004). “Team leadership effectiveness in technology based project environments.” Proj. Manage. J., 35, 35–46.
Tichy, N. M., and Devanna, M. A. (1986). The transformational leader, Wiley, New York.
Toor, S. R., and Ofori, G. (2008a). “Leadership in the construction industry: Agenda for authentic leadership.” Int. J. Proj. Manage., 26, 620–630.
Toor, S. R., and Ofori, G. (2008b). “Leadership versus management: How they are different, and why.” Leadership Manage. Eng., 8(2), 61–71.
Weathersby, G. B. (1999). “Leadership versus management.” Manage. Rev., 88(3), 5.
Yukl, G. (1999). “An evaluative essay on current conceptions of effective leadership.” Eur. J. Work Organ. Psychol., 8(1), 33–48.
Yukl, G. (2002). Leadership in organizations, 5th Ed., Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Yukl, G. (1989). “Managerial leadership: A review of theory and research.” J. Manage., 15(2), 251–289.
Zaleznik, A. (1977). “Managers and leaders: Are they different?” Harv. Bus. Rev., 55(3), 67–78.
Zaleznik, A. (1998). “Managers and leaders: Are they different?” Harvard Business Review on leadership, Harvard Business School Press, Boston.
Zimmerman, E. L. (2001). “What’s under the hood? The mechanics of leadership versus management.” Supervision, 62(8), 10–12.
Biographies
Shamas-ur-Rehman Toor is affiliated with Islamic Development Bank Group, Jeddah. He can be contacted at [email protected]. This article is a result of his Ph.D. research and has no relation to his current affiliation.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Leadership and Management in Engineering
Volume 11 • Issue 4 • October 2011
Pages: 310 - 320
Copyright
© 2011 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Sep 28, 2009
Accepted: Jun 28, 2011
Published online: Sep 15, 2011
Published in print: Oct 1, 2011
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Bibliographies
- Business management
- Case studies
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Data analysis
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering profession
- Information management
- Leadership
- Managers
- Methodology (by type)
- Organizations
- Personnel (type)
- Personnel management
- Practice and Profession
- Professional development
- Research methods (by type)
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.